PURPOSE:  The purpose of the week one discussion is to identify specific business practices or strategies that you feel support business success. You will want to research your topic and locate an article that will offer additional information on the topic. Please make sure to share your article and include a hyperlink to the article so others may also research the topic. Make sure to use no more than 20% or outside materials to avoid plagiarism. 

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175-300 words or more: 

1. Identify an example of a SPECIFIC business strategy that could potentially bring in business for a small business. We see many businesses moving to delivery or curbside pickup to help continue business. What innovative strategies can you consider? (Avoid delivery and curbside pickup) Before writing your response, check other initial posts and to make sure your strategy has not been mentioned. If you do use the same strategy, you must offer new supporting evidence. 
2. Explain why you feel this SPECIFIC business strategy would encourage new business.

*This is a professional forum. All messages must be written with proper grammar, punctuation, and in a professional manner. Any negative posts will be removed and all points for the week will be forfeited.

Discussion 2

 Reply to Josue and

Rodrigo post

. Be constructive and professional, advancing the conversation with questions and examples. 

Josue post

A distribution channel is how a product or service get directly to the consumer from a manufacturer. A distribution channel can be long or short depending on how it is going to reach the consumer. For example, a consumer can buy directly from the manufacturer or it can buy from a retailer. The distribution and logistics work together. When you think of logistics it includes where the product is in production, how the product is packaged and how it will end up being delivered. A geographical example for me would be the port of Galveston cost here in Texas. We receive a many goods from around the world through that port. Once it arrives at the port it has to be distributed throughout the United States according to where it needs to go. The product comes in on a ship and it is sent out through air and ground. Many of these products are purchased from the manufacturer directly or they are purchased in bulk to be sold at a retail store. I have personally purchased shoes directly from a manufacturer oversees and was able to obtain the product for a significant discount. I have also purchased the same shoe from a retailer and paid more than double. There are several distribution channels, and we have all dealt with them at some point in time when making purchases or trying to sell an item. 

Rodrigo post
 

Distribution channels depends on various factors, usually manufacturers consider which distribution channel would be objective and efficient. They look for the channel with the lowest cost with maximum overall profit. Consumers also influence the choice of the distribution channel in various ways including geographical location. If most consumers using a particular product live in the same city as the producer, the producer can sell through his own salesmen. However if the consumers are scattered over a wide area, the producer will have to depend on wholesale and retail channels of his product. For example, a channel may be an on-site store, a virtual store, a retailer, a wholesaler, an agent, or direct mail.

Many companies have begun to use websites and virtual stores to sell products because they can reach a wider spectrum of customers who are all over the world, instead of only in their specific location. Clothing sites have increasingly gone to virtual stores versus physical locations (such as malls or boutiques) out of convenience as well as being able to utilize more distribution channels to sell their products and reach more consumers.